Method for creating combined characters in a chinese character learning game

ABSTRACT

A method for creating a combined character in a Chinese character learning game includes a first step of creating a portion representing a pronunciation of a combined character as a graphic character; a second step of a portion representing a meaning of the combined character as an additional graphic character(s); and a third step of disposing the graphic character(s) representing the meaning and the graphic character representing the pronunciation according to the positional relationship of the combined character. In the method, a graphic character of the combined character is formed by combining the two or more graphic characters.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a method for forming combinedcharacters in a Chinese character learning game, and more specifically,to a method for forming combined characters in a Chinese characterlearning game, in which a graphic character of a combined character isformed by creating a portion representing a pronunciation of thecombined character as a graphic character, creating a portionrepresenting a meaning of the combined character as an additionalgraphic character(s), and combining the two or more graphic characters,so that it is possible for a learner to easily understand the formingreason or principle of the combined character and to easily recognizethe meaning and pronunciation of the combined character according to theoperation of the graphic character of the combined character.

BACKGROUND ART

Chinese characters have been created as characters, and the formation ofthe Chinese characters is generally classified by the Chinese Hexateuchtheory. The Chinese characters originally started from hieroglyphiccharacters, but the Chinese Hexateuch theory could represent concepts orexistences that could not be expressed by the hieroglyphic characters,using other methods. That is, the Chinese Hexateuch theory refers tomethods of forming Chinese characters using three factors, i.e., shape,pronunciation and meaning. In the Chinese Hexateuch theory, Chinesecharacters are classified into six categories, i.e., pictogram,ideograph, logical aggregates, pictophonetic compounds, borrowing andassociate transformation.

In the Chinese Hexateuch theory, combined characters occupy 90% of 23000characters recorded in Yukryakseo (Chinese document) published in 12thcentury, and occupy 97% of 48641 characters in Ganghuijajeon (Chinesedictionary) published in 1716. Generally, 80% of Chinese characters usedby Koreans are combined characters, and almost 100% of difficult Chinesecharacters not used by Koreans are combined characters. The combinedcharacters are formed so that learners can easily understand theirmeanings and easily pronounce. Hence, if the learners understand theforming reason or principle of the combined characters withoutunconditionally memorizing the combined characters, the learners caneasily learn the combined characters. Thus, the learning ability of theChinese characters can be quickly increased by understanding the formingreason or principle of the combined characters.

In Korea, Hangul (Korean language) is used in ordinary words, butcharacters representing their meanings are mostly composed of Chinesecharacters. As the economy of China is rapidly grown, interest inChinese characters has been increased. Accordingly, the important ofChinese learning is increased, and there are proposed various methods inwhich a learner having a learning ability of Chinese characters to acertain level or more can enjoyably learn Chinese characters without anysense of boredom.

Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2007-0060234, entitled by “On-lineChinese character learning game” has been disclosed as a conventionalChinese character learning game. In the game, graphic characters, eachof which is created to have an entire outer shape capable of reminding alearner of a Chinese character, are shown in FIG. 1.

Referring to FIG. 1, a first graphic character is created to have theentire outer shape of a heart. In order to provide the learner with aclear feeling ‘Love,’ the heart-shaped character has a gently smilingfigure formed on a front 10 a thereof, and has a Chinese character ‘loveae (

)’ formed on a rear thereof. A second character is created as a graphiccharacter having an entire outer shape of cloud. Similarly, a figureforming the cloud-shaped character is formed together with the outershape on a front 20 of the cloud-shaped character, and a Chinesecharacter ‘cloud un (

)’ is formed on a rear 20 b of the cloud-shaped character.

However, in such a character forming method, the meaning of a Chinesecharacter is simplified as a graphic character, and hence, the learnershould learn, one by one, the pronunciation and meaning of a largenumber of Chinese characters without understanding the forming principleof the Chinese characters. Therefore, the learner has considerabledifficulty in learning Chinese characters having strange and complicatedshapes, and easily loses interest. Accordingly, the learner does nothave a high learning effect of Chinese characters.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Technical Problems

It is thus an object of the present invention to provide a method forcreating combined characters in a Chinese character learning gameperformed by characterizing a combined character configured by combininga portion representing a meaning of the combined character and a portionrepresenting a pronunciation of the combined character, in which acombined character is formed by creating a portion representing ameaning of the combined character and a portion representing apronunciation of the combined character as individual graph charactersand disposing the graphic characters according to the positionalrelationship of the combined character, and the graphic characters areoperated according to situations, so that it is possible for a learnerto easily understand the forming reason or principle of the combinedcharacter through the graphic characters and to easily recognize themeaning and pronunciation of the combined character according to theoperation of the graphic character of the combined character.

Technical Solutions

To solve the objective, the present invention provides a method forcreating combined characters in a Chinese character learning gamethrough which a user learns Chinese characters, the method including: afirst step of creating a portion representing a pronunciation of acombined character as a graphic character; a second step of a portionrepresenting a meaning of the combined character as an additionalgraphic character(s); and a third step of disposing the graphiccharacter(s) representing the meaning and the graphic characterrepresenting the pronunciation according to the positional relationshipof the combined character, wherein a graphic character of the combinedcharacter is formed by combining the two or more graphic characters.

The present invention also provides a computer-readable recording mediumin which a program for creating combined characters in a Chinesecharacter learning game through which a user learns Chinese charactersis recorded, the computer-readable recording medium including: a firststep of creating a portion representing a pronunciation of a combinedcharacter as a graphic character; a second step of a portionrepresenting a meaning of the combined character as an additionalgraphic character(s); and a third step of disposing the graphiccharacter(s) representing the meaning and the graphic characterrepresenting the pronunciation according to the positional relationshipof the combined character, wherein a graphic character of the combinedcharacter is formed by combining the two or more graphic characters.

Advantageous Effects

Based on the above structure, in the method for creating combinedcharacters in a Chinese character learning game according to the presentinvention, a combined character is formed by creating a portionrepresenting a meaning of the combined character and a portionrepresenting a pronunciation of the combined character as individualgraphic characters, so that it is possible to for a learner to easilyunderstand the forming reason and principle of the combined characterand to easily learn, with interest, the meaning and pronunciation of thecombined character while performing the game.

Further, it is possible to for the learner to infer which meaning andpronunciation the combined character has through the operation of thegraphic characters when the graphic characters make or receive an attackand to easily memorize the combined character by making the combinedcharacter as an image.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows graphic characters in a conventional Chinese characterlearning game;

FIG. 2 shows combined characters in a Chinese character learning gameaccording to the present invention;

FIG. 3 illustrates a method for attacking combined characters in theChinese character learning game according to the present invention;

FIG. 4 illustrates a method for operating combined characters in theChinese character learning game according to a first embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 5 illustrates a method for operating combined characters in theChinese character learning game according to a second embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 6 illustrates a method for operating combined characters in theChinese character learning game according to a third embodiment of thepresent invention; and

FIG. 7 illustrates a method for operating combined characters in theChinese character learning game according to a fourth embodiment of thepresent invention.

BEST MODES FOR PRACTICING INVENTION

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will bedescribed in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Thefollowing embodiments are provided only for illustrative purposes sothat those skilled in the art can fully understand the spirit of thepresent invention.

A combined character is a Chinese character formed by combining aportion representing a meaning of the combined character and a portionrepresenting a pronunciation of the combined character. Therefore, whena Chinese character is divided into two Chinese characters, i.e., aChinese character representing its pronunciation and a Chinese characterrepresenting its meaning, the Chinese character is referred to as acombined character.

For example, since ‘

’ (large ocean yang (sheep)) is a Chinese character formed by combining‘

’ (water drop su) representing a meaning and ‘

’ (sheep yang) representing a pronunciation, the ‘

’ (large ocean yang (sheep)) is a combined character. Also, ‘

’ (sheep flock guhn (king)) is a combined character formed by combining‘

’ (king guhn) representing a pronunciation and ‘

’ (sheep yang) representing a meaning, and ‘

’ (fierce yuhl (flames)) is a combined character formed by combining ‘

’ (spread yuhl) representing a pronunciation and ‘

’ (flames hwa) representing a meaning. On the other hand, since ‘

’ (rest hyu) is formed by combining ‘

’ (human ihn) representing a meaning and ‘

’ (tree mok) representing a meaning, the ‘

’ (rest hyu) is not a combined character but an idiographic character.

A method of forming combined characters in a Chinese character learninggame according to the present invention will now be described withreference to FIG. 2.

The present invention includes a Chinese character learning game serviceserver system (not shown) for providing services related to a Chinesecharacter learning game that users connected to the Chinese characterlearning game service server system learn Chinese characters, and a usersystem (not shown) for receiving contents provided by being connectedthe Chinese character learning game service server system. A method ofcreating graphic characters of Chinese characters is performed by a maincontroller of the Chinese character learning game service server system.

In a combined character ‘

’ (large ocean yang (sheep)) 100, a graphic character 110 of the ‘

’ (large ocean yang (sheep)) 100 is formed by creating ‘

’ (water drop su) representing a meaning as a water-drop character 110a, creating ‘

’ (sheep yang) representing a pronunciation as a sheep character 110 b,disposing the water-drop character 110 a and the sheep character 110 brespectively to the left and right according to the positionalrelationship of the combined character and then combining the water-dropcharacter 110 a and the sheep character 110 b. In order to easilydistinguish a graphic character representing a pronunciation from agraphic character representing a meaning, the water-drop character 110 arepresenting the meaning is shown in a state in which the water-dropcharacter 110 a is sleeping with closed eyes, and the sheep character110 b representing the pronunciation is shown in a state in which thesheep character 110 b is awake with open eyes. Various methods are usedas a method of distinguish a graphic character representing apronunciation from a graphic character representing a meaning. Forexample, the water-drop character 110 a representing the meaning may bedisplayed to have a size different from that of the sheep character 110b representing the pronunciation and/or to be divided into severalwater-drop characters. Alternatively, the water-drop character 110 arepresenting the meaning may be displayed to have a color different fromthat of the sheep character 110 b representing the pronunciation.

In a combined character ‘

’ (sheep flock guhn (king)) 200, a graphic character 210 of the ‘

’ (sheep flock guhn (king)) 200 is formed by creating ‘

’ (king guhn) representing a pronunciation as a king character 210 a,creating ‘

’ (sheep yang) representing a meaning as a sheep character 210 b,disposing the king character 210 a and the sheep character 210 brespectively to the left and right according to the positionalrelationship of the combined character and then combining the kingcharacter 210 a and the sheep character 210 b. In this case, the sheepcharacter 210 b representing the meaning may be shown in a state inwhich the sheep character 210 b is sleeping with closed eyes, and theking character 210 a representing the pronunciation may be shown in astate in which the king character 210 a is awake with open eyes.Alternately, the sheep character 210 b representing the meaning may bedisplayed to have a size different from that of the king character 210 brepresenting the pronunciation and/or to be divided into several sheepcharacters. Thus, the graphic character representing the pronunciationcan be easily distinguished from the graphic character representing themeaning. ‘

’ (fierce yuhl (flames)) is a combined character formed by combining ‘

’ (spread yuhl) representing a pronunciation and ‘

’ (flames hwa) representing a meaning.

In the combined character ‘

’ (fierce yuhl (flames)) 300, a graphic character 310 of the ‘

’ (fierce yuhl (flames)) 300 is formed by creating ‘

’ (spread yuhl) representing a pronunciation as a burberry-man character310 a, creating ‘

’ (flames hwa) representing a meaning as a flame character 310 b,disposing the burberry-man character 310 a and the flame character 310 brespectively to the top and bottom according to the positionalrelationship of the combined character and then combining theburberry-man character 310 a and the flame character 310 b. In thiscase, the flame character 310 b representing the meaning may be shown ina state in which the flame character 310 b is sleeping with closed eyes,and the burberry-man character 310 a representing the pronunciation maybe shown in a state in which the burberry-man character 310 a is awakewith open eyes. Alternately, the flame character 310 b representing themeaning may be displayed to have a size different from that of theburberry-man character 310 b representing the pronunciation and/or to bedivided into several flame characters. Thus, the graphic characterrepresenting the pronunciation can be easily distinguished from thegraphic character representing the meaning.

A method of attacking graphic characters of combined charactersaccording to the present invention will now be described with referenceto FIG. 3.

When the graphic character 110 of the ‘

’ (large ocean yang (sheep)) 100 makes an attack to an opponent during agame, the sheep character 110 b representing the pronunciation becomes asubject of the attack, and the water-drop character 110 a representingthe meaning is used as an attribute of the attack (130). Water isspurred from the left of the sheep character 110 b. In this case, thesheep character 110 b as the subject of the attack is configured toshout ‘large ocean’ corresponding to the meaning of the combinedcharacter in the attack, so that it can be easily recognized that themeaning of the combined character ‘

’ is large ocean and the pronunciation of the combined character ‘

’ is ‘yang’ (sheep).

When the graphic character 210 of the ‘

’ (sheep flock guhn (king)) 200 makes an attack to an opponent during agame, the king character 210 a representing the pronunciation becomes asubject of the attack, and the sheep character 210 b representing themeaning is used as an attribute of the attack (230). A flock of sheeprush from the right to left of the king character 210 a, thereby makingan attack. In this case, the king character 210 a as the subject of theattack is configured to shout ‘sheep flock’ corresponding to the meaningof the combined character in the attack, so that it can be easilyrecognized that the meaning of the combined character ‘

’ is sheep flock and the pronunciation of the combined character ‘

’ is ‘guhn’ (king).

When the graphic character 310 of the ‘

’ (fierce yuhl (flames)) 300 makes an attack to an opponent during agame, the burberry-man character 310 a representing the pronunciationbecomes a subject of the attack, and the flame character 310 brepresenting the meaning is used as an attribute of the attack (330). Afierce flame rises from the bottom to top of the burberry-man character310 a, thereby making an attack. In this case, the burberry-mancharacter 310 a as the subject of the attack is configured to shout‘fierce’ corresponding to the meaning of the combined character in theattack, so that it can be easily recognized that the meaning of thecombined character ‘

’ is fierce and the pronunciation of the combined character ‘

’ is ‘yuhl’ (flames).

A method of operating graphic characters of combined charactersaccording to the present invention will now be described with referenceto FIGS. 4, 5, 6 and 7.

In one embodiment, when the graphic character 110 of the ‘

’ (large ocean yang (sheep)) 100 receives an attack from an opponentduring a game, the sheep character 110 b representing the pronunciationis configured to shout ‘yang’ (sheep) that is the pronunciation of thecombined character and to cause an action of flickering or turning tored. Similarly, when the graphic character 210 of the ‘

’ (sheep flock guhn (king)) 200 receives an attack from an opponentduring a game, the king character 210 a representing the pronunciationis configured to shout ‘guhn’ (king) that is the pronunciation of thecombined character. When the graphic character 310 of the ‘

’ (fierce yuhl (flames)) 300 receives an attack from an opponent duringa game, the burberry-man character 310 a representing the pronunciationis configured to shout ‘yuhl’ (flames) that is the pronunciation of thecombined character (FIG. 4).

In another embodiment, a Chinese character is displayed in the order ofmaking strokes according to the degree of impact of an attack receivedfrom an opponent during a game. The total number of strokes of a Chinesecharacter indicates a physical strength, and the degree of physicalstrength reduced is changed depending on the strong/weak of anopponent's attack. Therefore, two or three strokes of the Chinesecharacter may be displayed at a time. When the graphic character 110 ofthe ‘

’ (large ocean yang (sheep)) 100 composed of nine strokes receives anattack, the degree of physical strength reduced is displayed as a degreeof strokes of the combined character. When all the physical strength ofthe graphic character 110 is reduced due to continuous attacks, thecomplete form, pronunciation and meaning of the ‘

’ (large ocean yang (sheep)) 100 are all displayed, and the ‘

’ (large ocean yang (sheep)) 100 is disappeared while shouting ‘largeocean yang (sheep)’ (FIG. 5).

In still another embodiment, when a graphic character of a combinedcharacter receives an attack from an opponent, the graphic charactergradually becomes dim, and on the contrary, the corresponding combinedcharacter and its pronunciation and meaning gradually become clear. Whenthe physical strength of the graphic character is 100%, only the graphiccharacter is displayed. When the physical strength of the graphiccharacter is 70%, the graphic character is clearly displayed to a degreeof about 70%, and the corresponding combined character is dimlydisplayed to a degree of about 30%. When the physical strength of thegraphic character is 30%, the graphic character is dimly displayed to adegree of about 30%, and the corresponding combined character is clearlydisplayed to a degree of about 70%. When the physical strength of thegraphic character is 0%, i.e., is completely reduced, the graphiccharacter is disappeared, and only the corresponding combined characteris clearly displayed while shouting ‘large ocean yang (sheep)’ (FIG. 6).Accordingly, as a graphic character of a combined character graduallyreceives an attack, the visual rate of the graphic character isdecreased, and the visual rate of the corresponding combined characteris increased.

In still another embodiment, when the physical strength of a graphiccharacter of a combined character is initially 100%, the entire frame isconfigured with only graphic characters. That is, in FIG. 7( a), tenimages are all displayed as lamp figures. However, when the physicalstrength of the graphic character of the combined character is 70%,sheep figures in the entire frame, corresponding to about 30% of the tenimages, are replaced with the corresponding characters. That is, in FIG.7( b), three of the ten images, positioned between the images, arereplaced with the corresponding combined characters. When the physicalstrength of the graphic character of the combined character is 30%,sheep figures in the entire frame, corresponding to about 70% of the tenimages, are replaced with the corresponding characters. That is, in FIG.7( c), seven of the ten images, positioned between the images, arereplaced with the corresponding combined characters. Accordingly, as thegraphic character continuously receives attacks, the occupancy ratio ofthe corresponding combined character to the graphic character isincreased. As such, if the graphic character and the correspondingcombined character are alternately displayed at a certain rate, thegraphic character and the corresponding combined character arealternately flickered whenever the graphic character receives an attack.Thus, the association strength of the corresponding combined characteris increased from the graphic character. When the physical strength ofthe graphic character of the combined character is 50%, the graphiccharacter is most frequently flickered. When the physical strength ofthe graphic character of the combined character is 0% (FIG. 7( d)) andwhen the physical strength of the graphic character of the combinedcharacter is 100% (FIG. 7( a)), there is no flickering.

Although the present invention has been described in connection with theaccompanying drawings and the preferred embodiments, the presentinvention is not limited thereto but defined by the appended claims.Accordingly, it will be understood by those skilled in the art thatvarious modifications and changes can be made thereto without departingfrom the spirit and scope of the invention defined by the appendedclaims.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

According to the present invention, a graphic character of a combinedcharacter can be effectively created in a Chinese character learninggame through which a user learns Chinese characters, thereby moreefficiently performing Chinese character learning.

1. A method for creating combined characters in a Chinese characterlearning game through which a user learns Chinese characters, the methodcomprising: a first step of creating a portion representing apronunciation of a combined character as a graphic character; a secondstep of a portion representing a meaning of the combined character as anadditional graphic character(s); and a third step of disposing thegraphic character(s) representing the meaning and the graphic characterrepresenting the pronunciation according to the positional relationshipof the combined character, wherein a graphic character of the combinedcharacter is formed by combining the two or more graphic characters. 2.The method according to claim 1, wherein the graphic characterrepresenting the meaning and the graphic character representing thepronunciation are distinguished from each other using a current state,size, number or color.
 3. The method according to claim 2, wherein thecurrent state is divided into a state in which the graphic characterrepresenting the meaning is sleeping with closed eyes and a state inwhich the graphic character representing the pronunciation is awake withopen eyes.
 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein, when the graphiccharacter of the combined character makes an attack to an opponentduring a game, the graphic character representing the pronunciation isdisplayed as a subject of the attack, and the graphic characterrepresenting the meaning is displayed as an attribute of the attack. 5.The method according to claim 4, wherein the graphic character that isthe subject of the attack is configured to shout the meaning of thecombined character in the attack.
 6. The method according to claim 1,wherein, when the graphic character of the combined character receivesan attack from an opponent during a game, the graphic characterrepresenting the pronunciation is configured to shout the pronunciationof the corresponding combined character.
 7. The method according toclaim 6, wherein the total number of strokes of the combined characteris displayed as a physical strength of the graphic character of thecombined character, and the combined character is displayed in the orderof the strokes of the combined character according the degree of impactof the attack received from the opponent.
 8. The method according toclaim 7, wherein, when the entire physical strength of the graphiccharacter of the combined character is reduced, the combined characteris completely displayed.
 9. The method according to claim 6, wherein, asthe physical strength of the graphic character of the combined characteris reduced, the graphic character gradually becomes dim and thecorresponding combined character and its pronunciation and meaninggradually become clear, and a change in physical strength is displayedby indicating the physical strength of the graphic character as a gauge.10. The method according to claim 6, wherein, when the graphic characterof the combined character receives an attack, the graphic character andthe corresponding combined character are alternately displayed accordingto the degree of physical strength of the graphic character.
 11. Acomputer-readable recording medium in which a program for creatingcombined characters in a Chinese character learning game through which auser learns Chinese characters is recorded, the computer-readablerecording medium comprising: a first step of creating a portionrepresenting a pronunciation of a combined character as a graphiccharacter; a second step of a portion representing a meaning of thecombined character as an additional graphic character(s); and a thirdstep of disposing the graphic character(s) representing the meaning andthe graphic character representing the pronunciation according to thepositional relationship of the combined character, wherein a graphiccharacter of the combined character is formed by combining the two ormore graphic characters.
 12. The computer-readable recording mediumaccording to claim 11, wherein the graphic character representing themeaning and the graphic character representing the pronunciation aredistinguished from each other using a current state, size, number orcolor.
 13. The computer-readable recording medium according to claim 12,wherein the current state is divided into a state in which the graphiccharacter representing the meaning is sleeping with closed eyes and astate in which the graphic character representing the pronunciation isawake with open eyes.
 14. The computer-readable recording mediumaccording to claim 11, wherein, when the graphic character of thecombined character makes an attack to an opponent during a game, thegraphic character representing the pronunciation is displayed as asubject of the attack, and the graphic character representing themeaning is displayed as an attribute of the attack.
 15. Thecomputer-readable recording medium according to claim 14, wherein thegraphic character that is the subject of the attack is configured toshout the meaning of the combined character in the attack.
 16. Thecomputer-readable recording medium according to claim 11, wherein, whenthe graphic character of the combined character receives an attack froman opponent during a game, the graphic character representing thepronunciation is configured to shout the pronunciation of thecorresponding combined character.
 17. The computer-readable recordingmedium according to claim 16, wherein the total number of strokes of thecombined character is displayed as a physical strength of the graphiccharacter of the combined character, and the combined character isdisplayed in the order of the strokes of the combined characteraccording the degree of impact of the attack received from the opponent.18. The computer-readable recording medium according to claim 17,wherein, when the entire physical strength of the graphic character ofthe combined character is reduced, the combined character is completelydisplayed.
 19. The computer-readable recording medium according to claim16, wherein, as the physical strength of the graphic character of thecombined character is reduced, the graphic character gradually becomesdim and the corresponding combined character and its pronunciation andmeaning gradually become clear, and a change in physical strength isdisplayed by indicating the physical strength of the graphic characteras a gauge.
 20. The computer-readable recording medium according toclaim 16, wherein, when the graphic character of the combined characterreceives an attack, the graphic character and the corresponding combinedcharacter are alternately displayed according to the degree of physicalstrength of the graphic character.